


Dear Nina

by Mirallex



Category: The Oranges (2011)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24042538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirallex/pseuds/Mirallex
Summary: David has been writing letters, when all of a sudden, he receives one.
Relationships: David Walling/Nina Ostroff, David/Nina
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Dear Nina

1

_Dear Nina_ , he wrote,

_I hope you are doing well? I’m doing okay, thank you for asking. Vanessa moved to the city; Toby is in China for most of the year, so the house can get a bit lonely. Work keeps me sane, your Dad keeps me sane, even if he doesn’t talk much. I’m very lucky that he still speaks to me, although he probably wouldn’t if he knew I was writing to you.  
I know that if I actually sent these letters – if I had an address to send them to – you’d probably be tired of them by now. But at least they are letters from a person, not a cat, am I right?_

_It’s thanksgiving, Nina. It’s been 656 days since you left. Almost two years now. I’m not counting the days, I googled it. I did count in the beginning. And not because I wasn’t doing alright or because you leaving left me without perspective. I had to help Vanessa move, I had to settle things with the divorce, I had my job… I was doing okay, I really was. But counting just drew focus to your absence, so I stopped. I tried pretending you were around for a while and not in Paris, Rome or Copenhagen for all I know. Your Mom and Dad wouldn’t tell me where you were, but I did manage to sneak a few glances at your postcards on the fridge. Pretending you’re not gone obviously didn’t work. I told you all this in so many letters already. I have an entire shelf full of folders with letters by now. That does sound pathetic, especially when you write it down like this. But the truth is, Nina, that when you left, you took so much of my joy with you. Joy I had forgotten I could feel during so many years of a marriage that felt more like wading through a swamp during the last decade. I probably should have left Paige earlier, or she should have left me. But you know how it goes, there’s children, a house, joined savings – a life together. Upsetting that is harder than it looks. Instead, you just get used to your normal, you get used to being… not unhappy, but joyless. You can get used to so many things in this life, you’d be surprised what you can arrange yourself with. Not that you would. Settle for something, arrange yourself with a situation. No, you’re too much of a force of nature for that, too radiant. You don’t settle, because settling means giving up the part of you that made you move across the country to get away from here, giving up the part that made you move to Europe. It would probably also mean giving up the part that made you fall in love with me, so please: Never settle. I have been assuming that you did love me and that you didn’t just say that because every other option is just too twisted. Because the truth is that I’m very firmly stuck on you. I went out on a limb back then, decided for you, and that decision still stands. I miss your light, and I…_

David put the pen down frowning. He wasn’t expecting Vanessa or Toby home, Paige never came to visit, and yet he thought he had heard the front door. It couldn’t be Cathy or Terry because they would have come through the back door and announced themselves. He got up from behind his oak desk, picked up Toby’s old baseball bat from its corner in the hallway and quietly made his way down the stairs. The downstairs hallway was deserted, as were the salon, living room and kitchen. There was no one in the bathroom, no one on the porch. Probably the silence, he thought, lowering the bat. He had had a bit of a hard time keeping track of all the noises in this house now that it was so empty and silent. He’d heard people where there were none, seen things out of the corner of his eye that were not there. Maybe it was time he sold after all. Moving into a smaller place would be financially prudent, but he couldn’t help but hold on to the house and the memories attached to it. Shaking his head, he went back to the hallway and had already set one foot on the first step when he caught something out of the ordinary from the corner of his eye. An eggshell coloured square on the doormat that hadn’t been there when the mail arrived this morning. It was a wedding invitation. Sitting down on the stairs that led from the doorway to the hallway, he frantically tried to remember whose engagement he had forgotten, what distant friend of his had had children that could be getting married and might invite him, but he came up blank.

That was when he noticed there was no stamp on the letter and that the envelope hadn’t been sealed. No address, either. Just his name: _David_ written a wide, elegant handwriting.

He opened the letter and pulled the card out of the envelope. There was nothing on the outside to suggest who was getting married, and when he opened it, he found the white card that would normally have the names of the couple, the date and venue printed on it. He could even still make out the beige template where the information was supposed to be filled in, but someone had written all over the card. In the same handwriting that was on the envelope.

_David_ , it said

_Can you believe that I had to choose between this and a paper napkin to write on? Can you believe that Mom actually ordered wedding cards when I was 17 “just in case” I got married to someone she actually approved of? You probably can, you’ve been around that woman way too much over the last couple of decades._

_This card is stupidly small, so I’m going to have to keep this short. Listen. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t cut it, I know that’s not good enough, I know that doesn’t explain anything. I know, I know, I know. But I am. Sorry, I mean. Also… I’m home for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad probably didn’t tell you, and no one is more surprised than me that I actually agree with them for once. I want to be the one telling you, if I decide to tell you. I’m probably never going to send this letter, but I can write it anyways, right?_

_I just want you to know that I’m here, whatever you decide to do._

_Nina_

David heaved a sigh, buried his face in his hands and then did something he had learned over the course of the last two years: He stood up, went to the kitchen, and made himself a large cup of coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one shot as of now :)


End file.
